Johnny Paycheck - Lovers and Losers '1982

Tracks list

Tracklist:

1. D.O.A. (Drunk on Arrival) (02:41)
2. We've All Gone Crazy (03:11)
3. Gonna Get Right (And Do Somethin' Wrong) (02:15)
4. Award to an Angel (02:38)
5. You're the Only Song I Sing Today (03:19)
6. The Highlight of '81 (03:15)
7. Sharon Rae (02:34)
8. Loser of the Year (02:45)
9. No Way Out (02:18)
10. She Got the Gold Mine (I Got the Shaft) (02:55)


 moreBorn Donald Lytle, Paycheck began playing guitar when he was six, and
within three years, he was performing talent contests across the state. When he
was 15, he ran away from home, hitchhiking, and hoboing his away across the
country, singing in honky tonks and clubs along the way. By his late teens, he
had joined the Navy, but while he was serving, he assaulted a superior officer
and was convicted of court martial. As a result, he spent two years in the brig.
Upon his release, he moved to Nashville, where made the acquaintance of Buddy
Killen at Decca Records, who offered him a contract. At Decca, Paycheck released
two rockabilly singles on the label under the name Donny Young; neither were
hits. Shortly afterward, he moved to Mercury, where he released two country
singles, which were also failures. By that time, he had begun supporting other
musicians, playing bass and occasionally steel guitar with Porter Wagoner, Faron
Young, and Ray Price. He frequently moved between employers because of his
short-fused temper. Paycheck finally found his match in George Jones. He stayed
with Jones for four years, fronting the Jones Boys between 1962 and 1966, and
singing backup on George's hits "I'm a People," "The Race Is On," and "Love
Bug."

Toward the end of his stint with Jones, Donald Lytle refashioned himself as
Johnny Paycheck, taking his name from a Chicago heavyweight boxer. Late in 1965,
he relaunched his solo career with the assistance of producer Aubrey Mayhew, who
produced a pair of singles -- "A-11" and "Heartbreak Tennessee" -- for Hilltop
Records. Though it only charted at number 26, "A-11" caused a sensation within
the country community, earning several Grammy nominations as well as reviews
that compared Paycheck to his mentor, Jones. In 1966, he and Mayhew formed
Little Darlin' Records, primarily designing the label to promote Paycheck, but
also recording Jeannie C. Riley, Bobby Helms, and Lloyd Green. That summer, "The
Lovin' Machine" became Paycheck's first Top Ten hit. Also that year, he wrote
Tammy Wynette's first hit, "Apartment #9," with Bobby Austin and Fuzzy Owen;
Paycheck also wrote Ray Price's number three hit "Touch My Heart."

All of Paycheck's recordings for Little Darlin' Records rank among his
grittiest, hardest country, but they weren't necessarily big hits. Between 1967
and 1969, Paycheck had eight more hit singles, with each record progressively
charting at a lower position than its predecessor -- "Motel Time Again" reached
number 13 in early 1967, while "If I'm Gonna Sink" climbed to number 73 in late
1968. Though "Wherever You Are" showed signs of a comeback in the summer of
1969, peaking at number 31, the label went bankrupt shortly after its release,
partially due to Paycheck's declining commercial performance, partially due to
his heavy drinking and erratic behavior. Over the course of the next year, he
moved to California and sunk deeply into substance abuse. Meanwhile, Billy
Sherrill at Epic Records had been searching for Paycheck with the hopes of
producing his records. The label finally tracked him down in 1971 and offered
him a contract, provided that he cleaned himself up. Paycheck accepted the offer
and, with Sherrill's assistance, kicked his addictions.

Like many of Sherrill's records of the early '70s, his Paycheck recordings were
heavily produced and often layered with stings. Though this was a shift from the
hardcore country that Paycheck made on Little Darlin', the new approach was a
hit -- his debut single for the label, "She's All I Got," became a number two
hit upon its fall 1971 release. It was quickly followed by another Top Ten hit,
"Someone to Give My Love To," and Paycheck was finally becoming a star. During
the next four years, he had 12 additional hit singles -- including 1973's Top
Ten singles "Something About You I Love" and "Mr. Lovemaker," and 1974's "For a
Minute There" -- with the more accessible, pop-oriented songs Sherrill crafted
for him, but Paycheck's wild ways hadn't changed all that much. In 1972, he was
convicted of check forgery and, in 1976, was saddled with a paternity suit, tax
problems, and bankruptcy. Accordingly, he shifted his musical style in the
mid-'70s to put him in step with the renegade outlaw country movement.

Paycheck's first outlaw album, 1976's 11 Months and 29 Days (which happened to
be the length of his suspended sentence for passing a bad check), featured a
photo of him in a jail cell on the cover, signalling his change of direction.
Initially, his outlaw records weren't hits, but early in 1977 he returned to the
Top Ten with a pair of Top Ten singles, "Slide Off of Your Satin Sheets" and
"I'm the Only Hell (Mama Ever Raised)." Later that year, he released his cover
of David Allan Coe's "Take This Job and Shove It," which became his biggest hit,
spending two weeks at number one; its B-side, "Colorado Kool-Aid," also charted
at number 50. Soon, Paycheck's records were becoming near-parodies of his
lifestyle, as the title "Me and the I.R.S." and "D.O.A. (Drunk on Arrival)"
indicated. Nevertheless, he stayed at the top of the charts, with "Friend,
Lover, Wife" and "Mabellene" both reaching number seven in late 1978 and early
1979.

Shortly after the twin success of those singles, his career began to crumble due
to his excessive, violent behavior. In 1979, his former manager Glenn Ferguson
began a prolonged and difficult legal battle. In 1981, a flight attendant for
Frontier Airlines sued him for slander after he began a fight on a plane. The
following year, he was arrested for alleged rape. The charges were later reduced
and he was fined, but by that point, Epic had had enough and dropped him from
the label. Paycheck moved over to AMI, where he had a number of small hit
singles between 1984 and 1985. Later in 1985, he had a barroom brawl with a
stranger in Hillsboro, OH, that ended with Paycheck shooting and injuring his
opponent. The singer was arrested for aggravated assault and spent the next four
years appealing the sentence while he recorded for Mercury Records. None of his
singles for the label reached the Top 40, and he was dropped from the label in
1987. He spent 1988 at Desperado Records before signing with Damascus the
following year, after his conversion to Christianity.

In 1989, Paycheck's appeals had expired and he was sentenced to the Chillicothe
Correctional Institute. He spent two years at the prison, even performing a
concert with Merle Haggard at the jail during his stint, before being released
on parole in January 1991. Following his release, Paycheck kept a low profile,
playing shows in Branson, MO, and recording for the small label Playback
Records. After battling diabetes and emphysema for a number of years, Paycheck
passed away in February 2003. He was 64. ~ Dan Cooper

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